nicholas copernicus，the polish astronomer（1473-1543），had his hand in many pies.he founded the system on whichmodem astronomy is based，holding that “the sun is the center ofour universe”。he worked on currency reform，coining thenotion that the appearance of debased currency drives goodmoney into hiding.（it's today called “gresham's law”，for anenglish economist who was incorrectly thought to have originatedthe idea.）he was a canon at frombork and was involved in diplomatic negotiation between the poles and the teutonicknights of prussia.
copernicus knew of the astronomical views of the greekaristarchus（310 b.c.—230 b.c.，ancient greek as tronomer），who believed that the motions of the heavenly bodies could easily beunderstood if it were assumed that all the planets，including earth，revolved about the sun and that the stars must be infinitely far awaybecause they seemed motionless.copernicus mentioned aristarchus views in a passage in de revolutionibus orbiumcoelestium that he later eliminated，as though not wishing tocompromise his own originality.
波兰天文学家尼古拉斯·哥白尼（1473－1543）涉足的方面很多。他发现了作为现代天文学基础的体系，认为“太阳是宇宙的中心”。他参与了货币改革的工作，研究出破损的钞票会使人将好钞票收藏起来的理论。（今天这一理论被称为“格雷沙姆定律”，因为人们误认为这个想法是一个叫格雷沙姆的英国经济学家首先想出来的。）他还在弗隆堡当过牧师，并参加了波兰人与普鲁士条顿骑士的外交谈判。
哥白尼了解希腊的阿利斯塔克（公元前310-前230年，古希腊天文学家）在天文学上的观点。阿利斯塔克认为，如果假设包括地球在内的行星都围绕太阳旋转，而恒星因为看上去不动而无限遥远，那么天体运动就非常容易理解。哥白尼在《天体运行轨道》一书中有一段提到了阿利斯塔克的观点，但后来又删去了，好象不希望有损于自己的独创性。